Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Like I mentioned in my previous post, meyer lemons would be making a frequent appearance here. These lemon butter cookies (sablés au citron) are one of my favorite slice-and-bake icebox cookies. The recipe is from Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets cookbook and she adapted it from the sablés made at Patisserie Lerch. These cookies are full of bright citrus zest and are oh-so tender. The secret to the tenderness is that confectioners' sugar is used in the dough instead of granulated sugar.

I wish that computers had smell-o-vision because the amazing fragrance of the meyer lemon that fills my kitchen while these cookies bake is beyond words. I would even wear a perfume that smelled like they do right when they come out of the oven. If only I could capture the scent in a jar. But I guess I'll have to get my fill by making these cookies more often instead.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter on medium speed until smooth, add the confectioners' sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in 1 egg yolk, followed by salt, vanilla and lemon zest.

On low speed, add the flour and mix just until flour is incorporated.

Turn dough out onto a counter, gather dough into a ball, divide in half, and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Chill dough for 30 minutes in refrigerator.

Form each piece of dough into a log that is about 1 to 1 1/4 inches in diameter. (If the diameter is right, the length you end up with is fine. Mine are usually about 6 inches long.) Wrap logs in plastic wrap and chill dough for 2 hours in refrigerator. (Dough logs can be wrapped airtight and kept refrigerated for up to 3 days or stored in freezer for up to 1 month.)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.

If you are coating your cookies with sugar, whisk the remaining egg yolk until it's smooth and liquid enough to use as a glaze. Spread granulated sugar out on a piece of waxed paper. One log at a time, unwrap your chilled dough log and brush lightly with the egg yolk. Roll the log in sugar, pressing gently to help the sugar stick.

Slice each log into rounds about 1/4 inch thick. Place on baking sheets, leaving about 1/2 inch between the cookies.

Bake at 350F for 12-14 minutes until they are set but not browned. (It's okay if the yolk-sugar edges brown slightly.) Transfer cookies to cooling rack.

Notes: You can use a different citrus zest in this recipe. Definitely give the dough logs the 2 hour rest in the refrigerator. It's optional to coat the edges in sugar (I did a very light coating using less than the 1/2 cup granulated sugar stated in the recipe.)

You have an wonderful blog site . I enjoy most of your recipes very much.I made the Myer Lemon Butter Cookies,everyone in the family love it and I told them is from your blog. I told all my friends about this blog.Thanks for helping me learn to bake.....

Liene - The dough should not be so sticky that it would prevent you from shaping it. If it's too sticky to form into logs you can chill it then roll it flat (about 1/4-inch thick) and cut out shapes to bake.

Liene - If it's still too soft after chilling in the refrigerator then I would pinch off pieces of dough and form 3/4-inch diameter balls of dough. Place the balls on the cookie sheet, flatten them slightly and bake them. They won't look pretty like the sables, but they should still taste good.

The alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is a cousin of the wild strawberry. It's sometimes simply referred to as alpineberry. I love to bake, cook and garden. My blog is a place to share my recipes and other tiny tidbits of my life.